Red Drake (1)

(Blessed Face: Red Drake? You're gonna tame that? You must've lost your damn mind lol)

If I were just gonna tame some run-of-the-mill mob like everyone else, I wouldn't have bothered learning the skill in the first place. With the best weapon and character setup around, I had every right to challenge the ultimate prize.

In Taitonic, even though all field bosses were lumped together under that label, they weren't all created equal. Bosses without a proper "named" title, like the Orc Lord Zumbaka, were generally called quasi-field bosses, with raid difficulties that were significantly lower. The Griffin King, Red Drake, Twin-Headed Ogre, and the like were prime examples.

These non-named boss mobs were usually small gifts that hunting parties could take down on their own once they respawned. But the Red Drake was a special case—tons of players actively hunted it down. That was because, despite its low drop rate, it dropped something incredibly hot and expensive.

Red Drake Scales. Even as a Unique-grade material item, crafting armor with it had a low chance of producing Legendary-grade gear. Sure, the Legendary armor had great options and specs, but above all, its appearance was just so damn cool that it became the dream item for every knight-class player. It was always ranked as the coolest-looking armor set in existence.

Thanks to that pricey material drop, the Centura Volcanic Zone was always crawling with players lurking in anticipation of a Red Drake respawn.

After barely convincing the reluctant Hyunjung, we agreed to meet at dawn. I headed straight to the auction house to buy the material needed for Taming Monster: Breath of Binding.

'Holy shit! Why's this stuff so expensive?'

The material for taming went for over 200,000 won per unit—way pricier than I'd expected. There weren't even bulk listings; it must've been a rare drop.

But ever since I'd started raking in the cash, the best part was not having to worry about money for anything! Worst case, I could just resell extras, so I swept up about 20 of them.

I'd originally planned to grab some Shining Mana Stones too, but I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had plenty from the Orc Lord raid. So I bought up the usual Shining Mana Stone listings, set them, and headed to the fountain.

The hectic Orc Lord raid had put off reinforcing my Sapphire Rings, and they were waiting.

As expected from the fountain! Skipping offerings or rituals like usual, all three rings I'd safely reinforced to +2 pushed straight to +3.

"Nice! Low reinforcement tiers really don't fail much. Now I've secured a +3 ring pair!"

Sapphire Rings were hard to find on the market and would stay that way. Unless I got lucky with surplus stock like this, no more chances to reinforce. With bated breath, I slapped on the stones.

"Argh! No way, it broke already!"

A Legendary ring vanishing into the ether drew a groan of regret. But losing one was expected from the start. If I'd only had two, they'd have capped at +2—but now I had +3 and +4. Not bad.

The pure option boosts from reinforcement: 0.6% and 0.8%. Combined with the Sapphire pair, that gave me a whopping 5.4% mana absorption rate.

The Holy Sword's insane attack power, accessories absorbing 5.4% of that as mana, and an 8-star Mana Shield reducing damage by 75%. The positive feedback loop of my original tech tree was finally complete.

Plus the unexpected Indomitable Courage effect...!

Taming required one-on-one combat with the monster, right? No problem. Even as a boss mob, I was now a monster who could solo it!

To prep for the dawn grind, I logged out early and flipped on the TV. Taitonic TV's fixed channel was running a live evening broadcast right on cue.

Even with all my changes lately, I still made time to watch whenever I could. For someone like me who skipped internet communities, it was my window into Taitonic's hot topics.

The show kicked off with perky 20-something anchor Yang Min Ah and a 30-ish guy with dark circles and glasses.

Dodak Tong was a famous solo ranker with no guild, holding his spot for ages. He posted guides and info on communities and the official site, earning respect from tons of players. I'd referenced his posts myself, but this was his first TV appearance as far as I knew.

What? No way. I'd downleveled, not up, and changed my ID entirely. I liked this guy, but calling me an attention whore? Not cool.

Argh, wrong again? Titan cooldown's 24 hours max, 100 tops. How was this guy even rank 7? Everything he said was off.

"What the hell's this guy's deal?"

Everything he said missed the mark. If I planned that passive crap, I wouldn't have declared war on Taesung in front of everyone. Spouting nonsense as an "expert"? Impressive in a bad way.

What a piece of work. Judging me by his own standards. Infuriating, but actually a win for me—breeds complacency.

But a rank 7 thinker's imagination capped there? After seeing Last Chance and Yeon Woo's prowess, I'd tensed up. This? Confidence restored.

Trapped in biases, Taitonic was ripe for the shock I'd deliver!

4 AM. Aside from hardcore lifers, the hunting grounds were dead quiet.

The capsule's AI monitored bio-rhythms, warning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of fatigue and force-logging if needed. Dawn's emptiness stemmed from that—I always napped first to dodge it.

"If not now... probably never tame a Red Drake."

I'd planned to use the Titan for leveling or boss raids once progress slowed, exposing my ID change. No more bold field roaming after.

In other words: my anonymity was the last window for Red Drake taming.